Executive Compass’s 2023 – Our Year So Far

Staff news and achievements

The year 2023 has brought exciting and important changes to the structure of our business. We take pride in offering continuous professional development to all staff, complete with bespoke pathways training delivered by Technical Director Matthew Walker. Highlights, achievements and staff progression include the following:

• In January, Victoria Hughes was promoted to the role of quality reviewer, providing the writing team with suggestions and feedback for improving and enhancing tender responses, ensuring the client can deliver the strongest possible submission.
• In recognition of his commitment to delivering excellent bid writing and management services to our clients, Lewis Day was promoted to senior bid writer in January.
• Adam McCabe was promoted to the role of proposals manager in February, supporting our sales and marketing function as we continue to grow and experience high volumes of demand.
• Following her return from a yearlong secondment as sales and marketing manager, Kate Hull was appointed to bid manager in April, providing crucial support and bid management to our team of writers alongside fellow Bid Manager Craig Sutch.
• Sales and Marketing Director Amy Lawson and Senior Bid Writer Mary Marshall returned from maternity leave in April and June, respectively. At the expense of babies Noah and Leo, we are certainly happy to see them back in the office each day!

Lastly, our spring recruitment drive resulted in the appointment of three new bid writers, all of whom are progressing well and transitioning smoothly into the bid and tender writing industry. Learn more about Jemma, Ewan and Grace on our meet the team page.

Ethics, excellence and accountability

Since our inception in 2009, Executive Compass have adhered to these core values as part of our business model, organisational strategy and services provided to clients. Developed over 7,000 SQ and ITT submissions, clients soon appreciate our tailored approaches to tender writing and bid management, as evidenced by our ISO 9001:2015-certified quality management system, fully auditable 85% success rate and 75% repeat business.

We have delivered notable wins across a range of industries and sectors on behalf of our clients, including:

• Offsite construction solutions – Crown Commercial Services
• Asbestos management framework – Home Group
• Repair, maintenance and associated services – Torus
• Offroad surfacing – Sunderland City Council
• Refit and refurbishment framework – Pagabo
• Background extra care and support – Blackpool Council
• Modern methods of construction – LHC Procurement Group
• Domiciliary support services – Carmarthenshire Council
• External and internal decorating – Optivo Housing Association
• Database support framework – Historic England
• Home care framework – Newcastle City Council
• Plumbing consumables – APUC Scotland
• Ceiling track hoists and stairlifts – Swindon Borough Council.

In addition to celebrating the 14^th anniversary of our incorporation, May 2023 also saw us set a company record for monthly turnover, thanks to the tremendous efforts of our writers and reviewers, sales and marketing division and management team – each of whom have an important role to play and work tirelessly to deliver an exceptional service on each project.

Highlights of 2023 to date

Social value, tender training and donations to local businesses

Clients have also benefited from our dedicated social value division, with Director of Social Value Stephen Kennett providing bespoke training to several firms so far this year, in addition to providing daily advice to our team of writers as they complete high-quality social value responses.

Matthew has continued to provide bespoke tender writing training services to organisations across the UK, helping them to upskill their in-house resource and improve their overall success rate. In partnership with NEPO, he has also delivered monthly bid writing workshops to support North East businesses in expanding their business and increasing revenue through public sector procurement.

Our founder, Neil Capstick, has also been involved in donating to a local North East business through our organisational Social Value Fund. In June, Neil awarded a grant to Greencroft Dog Day Care, a local business providing full-day dog care services for customers at work, the elderly and those with disabilities. Funding will be used to assist Greencroft’s efforts to establish a shop on the premises, diversifying their business base and supporting their long-term stability.

What to expect for the rest of 2023

With so many successes and achievements to celebrate so far, July is shaping up to be another excellent month for the business, with numerous contract wins starting the month off on a high note. Currently, our writers are hard at work completing submissions for a range of industries, including construction, health and social care, gas servicing and maintenance, grounds maintenance and asbestos services.

Our management team are also preparing for an increase in holiday cover and bid review services to support clients whose internal resource are on annual leave during the summer holidays. This ensures our clients will be able to submit bespoke, high-quality bids across the calendar year, including business-critical and ‘must win’ tender submissions.

We are equally focused on achieving another record year for the company. With the expansion of our writing team, adherence to our core values of ethics, excellence and accountability, we are well positioned to meet and exceed our targets, supporting our long-term business strategy and organisational growth.

Supporting you with future bid and tender opportunities

We always strive to meet our clients’ requirements, including supporting short-notice opportunities or those close to the deadline. However, high levels of demand for our services mean that we often require a quick ‘bid/no-bid decision’ to provide high-quality support and avoid potential conflicts of interest.

If you would like to learn more about the bid and tender services we provide or receive a bespoke, no-obligation quotation, please contact our sales and marketing team at 0800 612 5563 or email info@executivecompass.co.uk.